Natural Resources

Natural resources are materials and components (something that can be used) that can be found within the environment. They occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geo-diversity existent in various ecosystems. Some of them are essential for our survival while most are used for satisfying our wants. Every man-made product is composed of natural resources at its fundamental level. A natural resource may exist as a separate entity, such as fresh water, or as a living organism, such as fish. It may exist in an alternate form which must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, oil, and most forms of energy. There is much debate worldwide over natural resource allocations, partly due to increasing scarcity but also because the exportation of natural resources is the basis for many economies. Natural resources that can be found everywhere, such as sunlight and air, are known as ubiquitous resources. However, most resources are not ubiquitous and only occur in small sporadic areas; these resources are known as localized resources. There are very few resources that are considered inexhaustible – solar radiation, geothermal energy, and air (though access to clean air may not be). The vast majority of resources are exhaustible, which means they have a finite quantity, and can be depleted if managed improperly.

New Market Implications

A country’s abundant natural resources will help determine what types of businesses can achieve the highest profitability there due to access to low-cost inputs. For example, a country with abundant arable land and government farming subsidies may support companies wanting to go into organic food production. Other environmental factors such as demographics and demand will also weigh in on a company’s potential success in a country.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure are basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. It can be generally defined as the set of interconnected structural elements that provide a framework supporting an entire structure of development. It is an important term for judging a country or region’s development. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, bridges, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, telecommunications, and so forth.Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services and the distribution of finished products to markets, as well as basic social services such as schools and hospitals. For example, roads enable the transport of raw materials to a factory. In military parlance, the term refers to the buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, redeployment, and operation of military forces.

New Market Implications

A country’s infrastructure will help determine the ease of doing business within that nation. For example, a country with poor road conditions and intense traffic may not be the best place to start a business that requires goods to be transported from city to city by land.

Poland Potholes

Technology

The level of technological development of a nation affects the attractiveness of doing business there, as well as the type of operations that are possible. Consider some of the following technological problems that firms may encounter in doing business overseas:

• Foreign workers must be trained to operate unfamiliar equipment
• Poor transportation systems increase production and physical distribution costs
• Maintenance standards vary from one nation to the next
• Poor communication facilities hinder advertising through the mass media
• Lack of data processing facilities makes the tasks of planning, implementing, and controlling marketing strategy more difficult

New Market Implications

A country’s technological capabilities will help determine what types of operations are possible in that nation. For example, in a country where people are not used to operating computers would not be an ideal place for a customer support call center.